We went to pick up the Nowicki's at Crewe Toll and set off for Dunbar under a clear blue sky. Happily all the weather reports of all-day drizzle were proved wrong and it was a nice spring day. The odd shower but hey its April.
At Hallhill the sports centre was already teeming with Porties. We're really going for it this championship it would seem. Notably present but not running were Rachel and Emily. They both denied any twinges of envy of the folk racing. Emily did her last long run before the marathon yesterday and is now officially tapering and Rachel's been doing her own thing running-wise and doesn't like the stress of racing. You have to ask yourself why you would race sometimes. I think I need the stress in order to make me run harder, and plus it kind of cancels out the stress of work. It cancels out all thought really - and once you've been without thought for a while it seems less important.
So, a trillion Porties lined up at the start with a few runners from other clubs interspersed. Or I think the real ratio might have been about 1:4, Porty: Rest of world. I nestled in amongst my elders and betters Sheila McCleish and Paul Eunson and tried to stay with them for as long as I could. Shery, who's been ailing with a cold, came and sat with us for a while and then pulled gently away. Mile 3 I had a catastrophic loss of power - in retrospect probably brought on by 2 too quick miles preceding. My quads suddenly felt tired and woolly. I was truly surprised, wondering if I was going to have to stop and walk or something. I've had 3 days off running just through a mixture of work and weather and can't-be-arsedness so I thought that I wouldn't be well prepared but I would at least be fresh. Kerry went by around this time and told me to come on but there wasn't anything I could do. The garmin broke the news that I'd run mile 3 in 8.38. Holy McMoly. Thank goodness for the nice long downhill where I was careful to relax my legs and get my breathing under control. Another Porty drew even, later identified as Scott. We swapped places a bit for the next couple of miles and this helped me keep going. Scott managed to burn me off at the end but had helped me run a better 2nd half.
So over the finish line in 45.44. Not bad really. And I was glad to hear other runners saying they'd found it quite tough and that their times were a bit slower than they'd hoped. It seemed like quite a quick course to me, with just one major hill.
I had a long, long hot shower and a chat to Kerry in the next cubicle and all the aches disappeared. Back in the hall there was sandwiches and tea and plenty Porties to talk to. It was Lynn's birthday and she'd brought cake along so that floated my boat. Gareth sat modestly in the corner having come in 2nd musing that maybe he should get some road shoes as he's only been running in trail ones. Johnny had come in 5th despite having to nurse a calf injury. Willie and Peter came in 7th and 8th respectively. Mel was 1st lady and Jacqui was not far behind in 2nd place. Portobello won the team prizes with Shery making the 3rd lady for the lady's team. There were a ton of good results. The 1st year I did the Portobello championship series I was often the only Portobello lady there. Its changed days.
So now, back home, drinking some Belhaven Beer (thank you Dunbar Running Club and Belhaven Brewery for a great day out) its time to contemplate what tomorrow's long run might be. Or not. Might worry about that tomorrow.
Last night we watched a film called Half Nelson which was pleasing in an ambient kind of way. It was all middle and no beginning and end. It was about a teacher with a crack cocaine habit. I think the point was that people are neither all good nor all bad - things not as polarised as we make out. I got the point but would argue that drug addiction is more destructive and crippling than the film would have us think. Plus the guy kept teaching the same lesson day after day - the kids were unusually tolerant of this. Nice light and nice soundtrack though (Broken Social Scene). Not a cowboy film. Tonight's film which we expect to be lighter and less unconventionally structured is called The King of California. And I am going to tan the bottle of wine which the Nowicki's kindly gave us. That might be the very thing my oddly tired quads need.
Results up super fast here.
No comments:
Post a Comment